


Not Like The Movies

by giraffewrites



Series: Whumptober 2019 [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Child Abuse, Domestic Violence, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, M/M, Serious Injuries, Whump, Whumptober 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2021-01-05 19:01:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21213512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/giraffewrites/pseuds/giraffewrites
Summary: This shouldn’t be happening. None of this is right. Not the flickering light above them, not the fact that Susan is stood down the hall with two policemen, not Max, clung to Steve’s arm with all her might, and certainly not Billy, across the hall in a room that no one’s allowed to enter.None of this is right, and Steve, for once, doesn’t know how to fix it.(From Whumptober day 28: beaten)





	Not Like The Movies

This shouldn’t be happening. None of this is right. Not the flickering light above them, not the fact that Susan is stood down the hall with two policemen, not Max, clung to Steve’s arm with all her might, and certainly not Billy, across the hall in a room that no one’s allowed to enter.

None of this is right, and Steve, for once, doesn’t know how to fix it.

For the first time since arriving at the hospital, Max makes a sound. It’s the quietest sniffle Steve’s ever heard, but his ears still manage to grasp it. When he looks at her, his heart flips with the sight of her face. Around her left eye, spreading out past her eyebrow and beneath her cheek bone, is a mixture of blue and purples. Her eye itself is shut, due to the swelling. It would’ve gone down more by now if she’d put the cold compress onto it.

Slowly, Steve reaches his hand out to brush some hairs behind her ears. There are tear marks on her cheek, running past the cut on the side of her nose. She looks younger than she ever has before, and it adds to the guilt Steve already feels towards her brother. “You should put the cold compress on,” he suggests, only to get the reaction he expects; Max shaking her head before resting her forehead against his arm, fingers gripping his sleeve. Steve sighs but accepts it, leaning back in his chair and tipping his head up to the ceiling.

He thinks that he should be tired. The clock on the wall is telling him that it’s half three in the morning, but Steve’s body doesn’t seem to believe it. Instead of fatigue his body is racing with adrenaline and anger. If it wasn’t for Max he’d be racing out of here, down to the police station, before Hopper could follow through with his threat of handcuffing Steve to the chair.

When he’d called Steve last night, all he’d been able to get out was Billy was in hospital, before Steve was racing out the door. Hearing what had actually happened, seeing the state of Billy, Max and Susan, hearing about how smug Neil was when he got arrested was so much worse. That was the first time he’d tried leaving to go to the police station to find Neil, and the same time Hopper made the threat.

“It’s all my fault.”

The words strike Steve like ice. “Max,” he laces his voice with softness in a desperate attempt to keep his anger at bay, “this wasn’t your fault. Neither you nor Billy are to blame for his.”

“But if I’d just,” she sniffles as her voice grows thick with emotion, “if I’d just listened, and not snuck out, then he would’ve have hit me and Billy-” her voice is cut off with a loud sob, her small frame folding in on herself but her hands never leaving Steve’s sleeve.

Without a word spoken Steve moves to kneel on the floor, wrapping his arms around Max. He can feel his eyes desperate to let the tears brim over but he won’t let them. Max’s sobs are loud and too violent for someone her age, and he does his best to hold her close without hurting her. If this were a movie, this would be the time he tells her that everything’s going to be all right, that Billy will pull through. But unfortunately for them this isn’t a movie or TV show, this is real life and it comes with only two promises; life, and death.

When she’s calmer, close to passing out in her chair, Steve lays a blanket over her that one of the nurses had given him before heading to the vending machines with the promise of returning as soon as possible. He sticks his hands in the pockets of his jacket and makes his way down the hall, head buzzing with thoughts.

Logically, he knows that he isn’t to blame for this. Neil’s been unhinged for years according to Billy, one day he was bound to snap. But if Steve had gone with Billy when Max rung his house instead of listening to Billy and staying put, there’d surely be less injuries. He could’ve saved Billy.

He shakes the thoughts out of his head now that he’s at the vending machines, fishing around in his back pocket for change. He’s quick to decide on a can of Coke and M&Ms (along with a packet of Skittles for Max if she’s still awake), not caring about what it is he consumes, as long as he has _ something _.

Walking back he catches snippets of a conversation between two nurses. _ Poor boy, he must only be eighteen at the most _ one of them had said, to which was replied with, _ it’s his dad who did it, the chief’s got him in custody right now, let’s hope he gets put away for this. _

  
  


It’s a quarter to six when Steve wakes up. Max has long gone with Susan, only leaving when Steve assured her that he’d call if an update is due. Even when her step-son has been induced in a coma does Susan put herself first, claiming she needs to go back home for her rest and for Max’s sake (although, Steve thinks that if Susan knew her daughter at all of took more of an interest, she’d realise how unlikely it is for Max to rest until Billy comes back around, _ if _ he comes back around, that is).

His back is aching as he sits up, but Steve doesn’t have it in him to care. There are a few more people sat amongst him now, including a nurse he passed earlier, sat to his left.

“You’re here for Billy, right?” She asks.

Steve inhales. “Yes. I am.”

She nods her head, pursing her lips together. “I’m not meant to tell anyone,” she leans in, keeping her voice quiet, “but things aren’t looking good for him. I can’t guarantee what’ll happen, but some doctors have already lost hope.”

Steve thinks he might throw-up.

“And technically I can’t let you in the room. But if I’m to stand up and walk away, and you so happen to slip into the room and shut the curtains, I’m none the wiser.” She gives Steve’s hand a squeeze, and looks him in the eyes. Her eyes hold more worry for Billy in this moment than Susan’s ever have.

Steve watches as she walks away. He’s quick to get up and enter the room.

Being in here is worse than he’d imagined.

Through the blinds he’d been able to get glances at Billy, but nothing had prepared him from the sight in front of him. Walking over to the bed, Steve sits down in the chair. Billy’s arms are battered and bruised, his face showcasing an amount of cuts and bruises so horrific that in comparison Max’s injuries seem like a scrape on her knee. As well as this there’s a thick white bandage around his head.

“I’m so sorry,” Steve says. He leans forward and holds Billy’s hand, mindful of the drips that have been placed there. “I should’ve been there. I shouldn’t have let you go on your own.” Tears start streaming down his cheeks. He holds Billy’s hand just a bit tighter. “Please just,” he wipes his eyes with the back of his hand, “don’t leave us. We need you.”

Of course, Billy gives no response. His hand doesn’t grip Steve’s. His eyelids don’t flutter. All Steve gets is the beeping of machines.

Gently, he lifts Billy’s hand up to place a kiss to each of his finger, then resting it against his cheek. When he closes his eyes, more tears manage to slip out. His grip on Billy’s hand tightens. He knows this won’t be like the movies, but he still has hope that it will be.

**Author's Note:**

> giraffewrites on tumblr


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